Change—Often Necessary
and Harder than You May Think

People (including partners) resist change because of fear and loss of control. But change is inevitable. One example of change for many accounting firms is the introduction of the paperless office.

Seventy percent of change projects fail to meet expectations. Here are some reasons:

• Partners may not support the change. They may think it applies to everyone but them.
• Management focuses its attention on the change, but not on staff affected by it. Staff need training and coaching, and should not be expected to simply accept change.

The following advice can help ease the change process:

• Create an internal advisory board to serve as champion of the change project. Include the most persistent enemy of the change. Also include those most knowledgeable about the change project.
• Develop a vision—what the change is and why. This motivates and provides clarity.
• Develop strategy on how to implement the change.
• Keep the vision simple. Use metaphors such as “we want to be the tortoise, not the hare.”
• Set up discussion meetings. Vision and strategy provide the “what” and the “how.” Discussions will amplify the “why.”
• Call attention to successes resulting from the change.

To make changes permanent, you must create them deeply within the firm.

To read the complete article, click here.

From Partner’s Report—the Monthly Update for CPA Firm Owners, March 2006, p. 1. For subscription information contact Institute of Management & Administration, Inc., 3 Park Avenue, 30th Floor, New York, NY 10016-5902. One-year subscription $349. 212-244-0360, [email protected].